The US Coastguard seized $33 million worth of drugs from a fishing vessel that was smuggling narcotics in the Gulf of Oman on Tuesday, according to the US Naval Forces Central Command.
According to the report, more than 8,800 pounds of hashish and about 1,128 pounds of methamphetamine were found by Coastguard cutter, Emlen Tunnell.
The ship was patrolling waters in the Gulf of Oman as part of Combined Task Force (CTF) 150, a consortium of allies that work to disrupt criminal and terrorist activities in the area.
The Lebanese lira has fallen to a record low against the US dollar, it has been reported. The currency has lost more than 95 percent of its value since the beginning of the country’s economic crisis in 2019. On Wednesday, it hit a low of LL57,000 against the US dollar on the black market.
Lebanon’s Central Bank’s sayrafa rate, in which it provides dollars to depositors in an attempt to limit depreciation of the lira, stood at LL38,000 against the dollar as of Tuesday. The gap between that rate and the black market now amounts to around LL19,000.
In protest at the spiralling devaluation of the lira, hundreds of Lebanese gathered outside the Central Bank headquarters in Beirut. They burnt tyres and held banners highlighting the bank’s “unfair” financial policies. They also demanded that the banks should return depositors’ money.
